Engagement Standard
Intake is capped at 6 new principals per month, so fit is established before scope and scope is established before fee. The process below runs in both directions — you are vetting the practice while the practice vets the engagement.
A short written intake establishes entity, market, revenue band, active award or contract, capital position and any documented compliance mandate. Nothing advances on a phone call alone — the record is created first.
Engagements are peer-to-peer. We confirm the person at the table can sign, allocate budget and open internal doors. When the contact is not the principal, we ask for an executive sponsor before proceeding.
We verify what was stated against public record before quoting anything. This is the step most consultants skip, and it is why scope later collapses.
A working conversation, not a pitch. We name the bottleneck out loud, size it, and test whether it is actually solvable inside the engagement model. Either side can end the process here without cost.
A written scope defines deliverables, evidence artifacts, cadence and fee. Intake is capped, so a slot is only released once terms are countersigned.
Yes — this process is used on government work, but as an operator and subcontract partner, not as a proposal shop. The distinction matters for how you engage it:
Commercial and non-federal engagements move through the same five stages. The only difference is Stage 03, where the verification set shifts from federal award records to corporate, licensing and insurer records.
The written intake takes a few minutes and determines whether a call is warranted. Principals who clear screening are offered a 15-minute alignment call.